H-E-Double Carrot Sticks

A couple weeks ago I had the mother of all doctor's appointments. I had my glucose test, an ultrasound, and a normal check up scheduled the same morning. For those of you that don't know, the glucose test consists of drinking a sugary drink on an empty stomach (no eating after midnight the night before) and then getting your blood drawn an hour later. Then, you cross your fingers and hope your doctor doesn't call you in a few days to tell you that you failed. On a side note- I hate how doctors often do that whole "I'll only call you if something is wrong" thing. Being the over analytical woman that I am, if I never get a call I worry that the call didn't come through, that the doctor has the wrong number, or that my results got lost in space and I got skipped over! Well, not to worry about all that this time because I got the dreaded phone call. More on that later. The ultrasound part of my appointment went wonderfully. At our last u/s (around week 20) we were told our baby had a Choroid Plexus Cyst in his brain. Yes, my doctor said "baby", "brain", and "cyst" in one sentence. It's not as bad as it sounds though. It's very common and my doctor made me feel very comfortable with it. He said it would almost certainly go away on its own. This u/s was just to check that it actually did. Well, great news, the cyst was gone and Baby G looked perfect in every way. He measured 13.5 inches and weighs 2 lbs 8 oz. He is just slightly larger than the average baby (which is great because his momma loves chunky babies!).

The other interesting tidbit from my doctor this visit- I'm gaining weight too quickly! As of that appointment which was two weeks ago today, I had gained 25lbs with 12.5 weeks left to go. In a typical pregnancy, a woman should gain 1 pound a week for the last 13 weeks and gain a total of between 30 and 35lbs. You may have just done the math... My rate would have put me closer to 40lbs IF I got back on track and only gained 1lb per week. Anywho, I was told to simply watch my carbohydrate intake. I thought "No sweat, Doc. I can do that". I fell off the low-carb bandwagon two days later.

Let me just say how much I admire anyone who can do that Atkins diet. It's nearly impossible, virtually everything except meat and raw veggies has carbs, and lots of them. I basically became a carrot stick depository. I ate them twice a day for a week (it was one of the very few low carb habits that made it past day two). I don't even like carrot sticks.

Okay so back to the dreaded phone call. I just barely failed my one-hour glucose test which meant I had to go back for a second, more extensive, 3 hour test. For this one I have my blood drawn after fasting, drink an even more sugary drink, then have my blood drawn once an hour for three hours. It wasn't so bad although sitting at the doctors office for 4 hours isn't much fun.

I got the results at my doctors appointment today (yes, 3rd trimester pregnant women practically live at the doctor). I passed with flying colors. Thank goodness! And although my low-carb quickly had low-effort, the simple fact that I was even more conscious of what I was eating meant I didn't gain a single pound in those two weeks. I say that's a success.

Okay enough about doctor's appointments! Spring time means nice weather and baseball season- two things Matt and I love! This last Thursday we went with his folks to the Rangers exhibition game. I can't wait to take our little peanut to his first game! Then on Friday I took advantage of the day off of work to put some elbow grease into our home. I sanded, repainted, and added hardware to our bathroom vanity. I am quite proud of the results! I have since started doing the same to the guest bathroom although I haven't quite finished. Saturday and Sunday we celebrated Easter with each of our families. We are so blessed! :)

April events: More doctor's appointments. Trip to San Antonio. Childbirth class. Baby shower. Testifying in my first murder trial. 3D ultrasound.

Rangers game!

Box suite- not too shabby!

A painting I did at Painting with a Twist!

The "before" picture.

Another "before"- see how dingy!

"After"- pardon the mess I make while doing home repair. 

6 months down, 3 to go!

I should be in the blogging Hall of Shame with the infrequency of my posts. Regardless, Matt and I have just been gearing up for June and trying to take advantage of all the free time we still have. In the past couple weekends we have managed to get all the big furniture items that we have put into the nursery, Matt has built a work bench for his man cave (the garage), we have sold unneeded furniture and bought needed furniture, and we planted new bushes in the front of the house. There is still so much to do around the house though- I feel like I will never catch up! 

My belly seems to be growing faster than Pinnochio's nose when he lying. It has officially swallowed my belly button. Now that I am really showing, Matt has gotten into talking to his little boy.  Everyday he comes home, he gives me a kiss then kneels down and kisses my belly. How can we love our bambino so much already? Luckily for me, Baby Gross has been taking it pretty easy on his Momma lately. I feel as though it's not fair to other women that I am coasting through my pregnancy. Not that I would want it any different, but so many women have a miserable 9 months and I am free to just enjoy it! Keeping my fingers crossed this impending 3rd trimester is just as smooth.

I did, however, get my first taste of pregnancy charlie horses. Oh.my.gosh. I really thought someone had stabbed me in the back of BOTH calves at the same time. I was in a dead sleep and don't think I have ever shot out of bed that fast. Of course, after realizing what was going on, I fell back onto the bed and resorted to a few choice words which hopefully the baby didn't hear in my belly. I have also been dealing with "pregnancy brain". I swore up and down that this was a myth but, this week, my body is proving me wrong. It does exist, and it will make you feel like a complete goober. 

Other preggo news: My belly is now 34.5 inches around at the belly button (up from the original 27.5) and I have gained about 17 pounds (which is ALL belly). Baby G weighs just over 1.75 pounds and is just starting to open his eyes.  All his growing is making my appetite insatiable. I take two lunchboxes to work everyday to fit all my snacks. :)

In non-baby news, work has been crazy busy for me. I enjoy it though- even when it means I am standing in a dirt field at 4am in the freezing cold or when I am huddled in an interview viewing room watching a case unravel. The other day I was getting ready for work and it suddenly occurred to me that I hate my extra long hair. So the next day, I chopped it off. It feels so much better and I don't know why I didn't do it sooner! Matt keeps trucking away at work. I think its a busy time for him too so we both come home from work pretty worn out. He also started his softball league a couple weeks ago. I love going to watch the games- just can't wait until hes out there coaching our little tyke.



Nursery progress



Big ol' belly.



Matt's pride and joy.



With our sweet niece.



Preparing for Gepetto

I guess I should explain the title to my post before I get too deep into this. When Matt and I finally settled on names for our baby (at the time we didn't know whether Baby G was a boy or girl we had a name for each) we decided we wouldn't tell anyone until the birth. To curb our families curiosities we came up with the two of the most awful names we could think of and decided that's what we would tell them when they asked. Not too long after that we were sitting at dinner with Matt's family when the topic came up. So we proudly told them if we had a son he would be "Gepetto" and if we had a daughter she would be "Zelda". Laurie, Matt's mom, immediately objected but the rest of the family tried hard to pretend like they liked it. For the rest of the meal, everyone politely tried to figure out if we were kidding with them. I've never been a great liar so I was dying inside. By the end though, we had them fairly convinced that in June we would be welcoming a Gepetto or a Zelda Gross. Our original plan was to keep it up until the birth but we did feel a bit bad so we eventually filled them in. Ever since then though, Gepetto/Zelda has been an ongoing joke.

So it's been quite a while since my last post and we were just about to find out if we are having a son or daughter. Well, our gender reveal party was absolutley wonderful (thanks Mom and Doug) and we found out that Baby Gross is a BOY! We are going to have a son! There's so much I look forward to with a little boy- just think of all the sporting events we'll have! Now that we know Baby G is a boy, preparations for his arrival are in full swing. The last couple weeks we have focused on getting his nursery ready. We've only gotten as far as painting the walls, but I love the way its coming along! I have nearly finished staining the crib and changing table the Baker's gave to us. After I sanded them down I was so nervous that I was never going to get them looking good again. I was convinced I'd ruined them. But low and behold, they are looking great! I can't wait to get them assembled and put in Gepetto's room!

Other baby news:

• I can feel my son moving around so much more now. I am learning what makes him active. So far, he likes baths, nighttime, and Fruit Loops.
• Occasionally, I'll pull out a little book Leslie gave me called "Oh Baby, the Places You Will Go" (it's written like Dr. Seuss books and talks about all the different character's baby will "meet" when reading Dr. Seuss). Well, one night I got Matt to read it to my tummy. Talk about a Kodak moment!! I got a chuckle out of hearing him read words like Motta-fa-Potta-fa-Pell.
• I am now 23 weeks along and baby is about 11 inches long and weighs just over a pound. In the next four weeks though, he doubles his weight! Grow, Gep, Grow!

Non-baby news:

• My mom and Doug are getting married! We are super excited and so so happy for them! They want to get married in Colorado so I guess that means we'll have to make a trip out there, darn it! :)
• Matt's good friend Blain married his fiance, Laura, last weekend. We were so happy to see them tie the knot! Plus, listening to the preacher talk about the depths of marriage and the joys it brings was a good reminder to Matt and I during a stressful time. I loved when the preacher would say something that's so true to our relationship and Matt would give my hand a little squeeze just to let me know he caught it too. I sure do love my husband!

Our cake was absolutely adorable!

The "Gross" "Bakers".

He loves my belly.

Finally starting to look pregnant instead of just chunky.

The cake cutting.... it's BLUE!

We were so excited to learn Baby G is all BOY.

Allie was not as thrilled... she wanted a girl cousin. 

My favorite in-laws. :)

Mom and Doug... thanks for the par-tay!

You can't read it but it says "Gepetto".

(Don't judge my post-painting look) My belly is 33.5 inches around!

The walls are done! I love it!

So much to share!

What an exciting couple of weeks! I have a feeling this post may be a bunch of rambling because there is so much to tell! I'll try to start at the beginning...

Sitting in the bath a week or so ago I felt those funny belly feelings again. To me, it felt like someone using a paintbrush on the inside of my stomach followed by some tapping. Until this point I was in denial that I had been feeling my baby (I didn't have a better explanation I just didn't want to get excited over nothing). I decided to just watch my belly. All of a sudden, part of my belly jutted out as I felt the tapping from the inside. There was no denying it- it was my little one! I was so excited! Matt rushed in to see too but baby decided he/she was tired for the evening and didn't give us any more action. A couple days later though, baby was active in full force and Matt was able to see and feel the movements. That was so special! Many belly kisses followed.

As far as baby news, this is only the beginning really. My belly is getting much bigger. It is now 32 inches around my stomach at the belly button. That's a 4.5 inch growth from week 8. I've gained about 8 pounds. My belly button continues to creep outward day by day. My pre-pregnancy pants still fit, but only with discomfort so I have grown to love maternity pants. That elastic waistband feels so good! While at dinner with my mom and Doug one night, Matt brought up the idea of having a gender reveal party. These parties are the super trendy thing to do these days. So after some convincing, I agreed. So even though we had our anatomy scan today, we asked the ultrasound technician not to disclose the sex but to write it down and put it in an envelope. Then my mom will take the envelope to a baker who will bake a cake that is either pink or blue on the inside. When we cut into the cake at the party on Feb 2nd we will find out- son or daughter!

On to the anatomy scan! Even though we didn't find out the sex today, there was plenty else to see! We got to see each body part individually and watch our little one move about in my tummy. He wasn't particularly cooperative for the head and face shots but we managed to get a couple. Our technician even gave us a few 3D shots! I pretty much melted when I saw that little nose. I really couldn't believe it- that was my child's face! The best part of the appointment was hearing that all Baby G's measurements look great and all organs are functioning. I could even see five little fingers and five little toes!

Okay, on to non-baby news. This past weekend was our niece Allie's 4th birthday party so we drove up to celebrate. We sure do love that precious girl! Luckily, Matt's mom got a new camera for Christmas so she got a bunch of great shots of the party! We had such a good time!


Other great happenings recently: I got to visit my honey at work for lunch and he showed me around his new fancy building, we got to visit the Bakers in Ardmore (in addition to Allie's party), and I got a smokin' deal on some nursery furniture. Needless to say- we have lots of pictures to accompany this post!

Uncle Matt sure is popular!

Meeting Mr. G for lunch.

2D profile view of Baby G!

3D picture of his/her face. Look at that little nose!

3D profile view of our baby... and our kitten?

Hello 2013!

2012 was a wonderful year for Mr. and Mrs. G! With our vacations, relatively new house, marriage, and pregnancy it’s hard to imagine that this upcoming year could be any better. But, even if the only significant event that happens this year is the birth of our little one then I must admit, it will surpass 2012 on the greatness scale. Matt and I rang in the new year in our living room. Originally we had plans to celebrate but I cooked too big of a dinner and Matt insisted he was in a “food coma”. I was right there with him so we decided to stay in. Matt was sweet enough to drink apple cider with me so I didn't feel alone in my sobriety. It was actually one of the best NYE celebrations I've had in recent memory.

Now that the holidays have come and gone the weeks seem to be going by more slowly. I am 17 weeks and 4 days today, but still don’t look particularly pregnant. This whole pregnancy thing is mind boggling, really. I never realized how tough it would be to simply trust that my body will care for our baby properly. I read about the significant changes that are supposed to be happening at a given time and it’s hard to put my faith in my body to automatically do those things.  Once my little one makes their debut I think I will owe my body a great big thank you!

Although the recent weeks haven’t given me any exciting baby news, the weeks ahead certainly will. For starters, I am right at the point when Mom’s start feeling the baby move. I haven’t had this experience yet but  that doesn't stop me from trying to stimulate my baby to move. Every day before Matt gets home from work I take some time to either read or talk to Baby. Then, at night, I put my phone on my belly and play soft music. I try to play the same few things in a cycle. Some studies have shown that babies recognize sounds from the womb (mother and father’s voice, specific songs or tunes, etc) after they are born and that it can be very soothing. I don’t want to be one of those over the top parents who follows every study to a tee, but this one is fairly easy and helps me bond with Baby so I go with it. Another exciting thing coming up is our anatomy ultrasound. This is scheduled for the 24th and will tell us the sex of Baby (who will finally get a gender specific pronoun!). We had planned on keeping the sex a surprise until birth but this Momma caved and decided we need to find out. What can I say- I was born to plan!

Oh and one more thing I realized this week that I thought was super neat- our baby is due on Father's Day. How special for Matt. :)

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Workin' on my baby bump!

                                                    The video I made for Matt since he couldn't be there. 

Merry Christmas to all!

Mr. G and I drove up to Texarkana after work on Friday and celebrated Christmas with the Gross family over the weekend. Since we were all together, it was decided that everyone would just tell the kids that Sunday was Christmas so that we were all together to watch them open their presents. Christmas is so much fun with little ones around. Plus, its fun to see other family's traditions. One big difference is that in Matt's family, "Santa" presents aren't wrapped, they are set up all around the tree. So there were train sets, bikes, dolls, trucks, and a trampoline all in the living room. It creates quite a scene for the kids to wake up to. I think this tradition is one Matt and I will incorporate with our kids. Pretty neat!

After the Christmas celebration wound down Sunday, Matt and I headed back to Arlington. I was on call Christmas Eve and Christmas Day so I had to get back. Christmas Eve we spent with my mom and Doug and did our gift exchange. All of our family definitely spoiled us, as they always do. We sure are a lucky couple! Matt and I did our gift exchange later that night. Every major holiday we set a limit on how much we will spend on each other. And every year, we both completely disregard it. If we spoil each other so much, our baby is in for a treat!

The plan for Christmas was that ALL the Grosses (and my mom and Doug) would come to our house for the big meal. Mother Nature decided that wasn't going to happen. Snow, ice, and wind meant driving was much too dangerous. So instead, Matt and I had a quiet Christmas just the two of us. We went outside and played with the dogs in the snow, watched a couple reruns of Breaking Bad, had a snowball fight, and made snow angels in the front yard. We lost all desire to cook, so instead we drove aimlessly around Arlington looking for the best fast food joint open on Christmas day. I can have fun doing anything with my hubby!

This weekend was the first time I had people tell me I was "showing". As excited as that made me, I really just look thicker than normal. There isn't any roundness to my belly. So to a stranger, I don't look pregnant, just a little bigger than I actually am. My new goal is to look pregnant by my birthday- and I think I will! Hooray! This week (15) the baby is the size of an apple or an orange, depending on which website you read. January 24th is our next big appointment. That's the day we have our anatomy ultrasound and they tell us the sex of the baby if we want to know. Regardless what we decide, it will be great to get another picture of our little one now that they look more baby like.

Isn't he cute?

I love our first home!

Hello 2nd Trimester!

They say the second trimester is the easiest, but I had a pretty easy first trimester so we’ll see. Nothing is really new on the baby front. I am at the end of my 13th week, the baby is nearly the size of a lemon, and it’s pretty much smooth sailing until the third trimester. My belly has gotten a little thicker but my pants still fit and nobody except Matt and I can tell a difference. I got to hear our little stinker’s heart beat again this week. This time my doctor was in charge and he let me record the sound. It took him about 15 seconds to find it and I was not prepared for this delay so I began to worry. I tried to look calm on the outside but on the inside I was freaking out. That little lub-dub sound was music to my ears! The heart rate was 160 this week. He/She is working so hard!

My hubby was out of town this week for work. I always hate when he leaves, but I do believe that absence makes the heart grow fonder. My mom and I took advantage of his trip and spent a girl’s day shopping for baby stuff. I normally hate shopping, but shopping for your baby is quite fun! Plus, now I have more ideas on how to decorate our gender-neutral nursery. I am glad Matt and I are not finding out the sex of Baby Gross but it sure does complicate things sometimes!

Before he left, Matt got our Christmas lights hung so our Christmas decorating is complete. It’s such a relief to have it all done but in the back of my mind I realize it all has to be taken down in a few weeks! Now we are gearing up for many different Christmas celebrations we have coming up. It is certainly going to be a busy time for us but we can’t wait to spend it with family.

Christmas tree and Matt's presents. 

Christmas living room!

Mr. Gross, Mrs. Gross, and Baby Gross

The four legged children's stockings. :)

13 weeks. Belly: 30 inches.